As a biometric is a biological characteristic of an individual (such as a fingerprint, the geometry of a hand, Retina pattern, iris shape, texture, etc.), biometric techniques can be used as an identity verification factor since biometrics are usually more difficult to obtain than other non-biometric credentials. Biometrics can be used for identification and/or authentication (also referred to as identity assertion and/or verification).
Biometric identity assertion can require a certain level of security as dictated by the application. For example, authentication in connection with a financial transaction or gaining access to a secure location requires higher security levels. As a result, preferably, the accuracy of the biometric representation of a user is sufficient to ensure that the user is accurately authenticated and security is maintained. However, to the extent iris, face, finger, and voice identity assertion systems exist and provide the requisite level of accuracy, such systems require dedicated devices and applications and are not easily implemented on conventional smartphones, which have limited camera resolution and light emitting capabilities.
The challenges surrounding traditional biometric feature capture techniques, which generally require high resolution imagery, multi-spectral lighting and significant computing power to execute the existing image analysis algorithms to achieve the requisite accuracy dictated by security have made biometric authentication not widely available or accessible to the masses. Moreover, traditional biometric authentication techniques requiring dedicated devices used in a specific way (e.g., require a cooperative subject, have a narrow field of view, biometric must be obtained in a specific way) detracts from user convenience and wide-scale implementation.
Additional challenges surrounding traditional biometric authentication techniques involve unauthorized access by users who leverage vulnerabilities of facial recognition programs to cause erroneous authentication. For example, an unauthorized user may attempt to unlock a computing device using “spoofing” techniques. To cause erroneous authentication by spoofing, an unauthorized user may present a facial image of an authorized user for capture by the computing device. For example, an unauthorized user may present to the device a printed picture of the authorized user's face or obtain a video or digital image of an authorized user on a second computing device (e.g., by pulling up an authorized user's profile picture from a social networking website). Thus, an unauthorized user may attempt to use spoofing methods to gain access to functionalities of the computing device or to authenticate transactions fraudulently.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods with which a user's identity can be verified conveniently, seamlessly, and with a sufficient degree of accuracy, from biometric information captured from the user using smartphone devices.